There are currently more than 10,000 captive big cats, such as tigers and
lions, held captive in the U.S. In recent years, captive big cats have killed
more than a dozen people and injured more than 50 people. Many big cats are
owned by individuals or organizations that have been licensed by the USDA to
exhibit, breed, or sell these dangerous wild animals. While the terms of the
license include certain requirements for the care of the big cats, the license
does not address risks to public safety, nor does it firmly prohibit direct
contact between the public and big cats.

Direct contact between humans and dangerous animals, as shown in this picture, is common at many big cat facilities. IFAW is working to completely ban private ownership of big cats and other dangerous exotic pets.

IFAW (International Fund for Animal Welfare – www.ifaw.org) today announced that the last
opportunity to move the gorillas during optimal weather conditions – essential
for the welfare of the animals – had passed. The next opportunity to move the
gorillas will be from October 2007 when drier weather resumes in Cameroon.

Canada has allowed over one million seals to be killed in the past three years.
With this year’s commercial total allowable catch limit set at 270,000 seals,
this becomes the fourth consecutive year in which the government allocation has
exceeded the amount of seals that can be removed without causing the population
to decline. Last year, the government set the limit at 335,000 seals, while the
total number of seals actually killed was more than 354,000, based on official
government figures.

The team traveled by plane and helicopter and observed a single sealing vessel
as it began hunting seals on the opening day of the Gulf hunt. As expected,
sealers were shooting at seals on small ice pans from their boat. “What we saw
today was the cruelty of shooting seals in open water,” said Sheryl Fink,
observer and senior researcher with IFAW.

In recent years, the government has set the yearly TAC around 300,000 animals, a
number well above the sustainable levels estimated by its own scientists. This
year, despite poor ice conditions that could result in 100% natural seal pup
mortality, the government is continuing to ignore the scientific evidence
provided by its own scientists by setting the TAC at 270,000 animals.

“The conditions this year are disastrous. I’ve surveyed this region for six
years and I haven’t seen anything like this.“ said Sheryl Fink, a senior
researcher with IFAW.&nbsp; “There is wide open water and almost no seals. I
only saw a handful of adult harp seals and even fewer pups, where normally we
should be seeing thousands and thousands of seals.”

The ice conditions
this year are among the worst on record. Scientists have recorded below average
ice conditions in the Gulf of St.

According to the latest reports from scientific agencies in Canada, ice
conditions on Canada’s east coast are shaping up to be among the worst on
record. Current ice conditions in the Gulf of St. Lawrence appear to be worse
than in 2002, when Canadian government scientists estimated that 75 percent of
the newborn seal pups died as a consequence of bad ice conditions. Seal pups are
unable to swim for the first few weeks of life, and need solid ice on which to
live and nurse from their mothers.

Recommendations contained in the Draft National Norms and Standards for Elephant
Management released on Friday, 2nd March, include stopping the capture from the
wild of anything other than genuine orphan elephant calves.

"IFAW will continue to oppose the Government of Japan's whaling activities in
the Southern Ocean Sanctuary and its international efforts to expand commercial
whaling, but our thoughts and prayers at this time are also with Kazutaka
Makita, the crew member who has died, his wife and young children," said Patrick
Ramage, IFAW's Global Whale Program Manager.

This decision follows the German Parliament’s October 19 motion calling for a
national ban on seal products until an EU-wide ban is passed. As there is no
immediate response on the EU-level, Mr. Seehofer will move forward with the
German national ban. “We appreciate Horst Seehofer’s decision on the quick
implementation of a national trade ban. This is a clear signal from the German
government that it wants no part of Canada’s commercial seal hunt this March,”
said Dr. Rolf Sonntag, Director of IFAW’s German Office.